Among the potential dangers of hanging out with Jerry DeVito were that you would laugh a lot and find yourself blown away by his mastery of sports trivia. And one other thing: you might have gotten fat.

Mr. DeVito, 66, loved to take care of people around him, especially when it came to making sure that they were fed. He was the personal driver for David Alger, the chief executive of Fred Alger Management. When not behind the wheel, Mr. DeVito spent his days at the firm, spending time with traders and looking out for the welfare of interns, particularly making sure they knew there was leftover food from a conference or luncheon.

"He even used the interoffice mail system to send doughnuts to our New Jersey site," said Christopher W. Cheever, a former summer intern.

A native of the Bronx and a great baseball player in his younger days, Mr. DeVito was a die-hard Yankees fan, who used to joke with the Alger brothers that they should buy the Bronx Bombers and make him the team's general manager. A father of two, he planned to retire this year, though he would have missed being in the mix. "He just liked being around people," said his daughter, Robyn Goldstein. "No matter what age you were, young or old, you could count on him."